December holidays have arrived and we have a unscheduled week visit to George to spend Christmas with the family. As a new bird photographer I did some pre-planning to see where I could go to spend some quality time taking pics. One area that I came upon was the hide at Langvlei. The hide is small but very well maintained and has a great dead branch right outside the hide in the water upon which the birds come to pose. Early bird catches the worm. Here I spent a few sunrises and I would like to share with you some of the feathered friends that came around. The light wasn't particulary good on these days, but you will get the idea.Here is a Red Knobbed Coot

This Pied Kingfisher posed very nicely for us on a number of accasions, this time with a fish.

Next up this African Fish Eagle came to investigate what a Cormorant had caught and was trying to swallow. Once again the light was really poor.

A regular visitor under the hide was this Little Grebe who was making a huge racket.

This Common Moorhen was really enjoying the grasses and occasionally got onto the log to pose for us.

More to follow

Last edited by Touareg on Sat Feb 13, 2010 7:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I believe Wilderness is near Mosselbaai...? Anyway, we have a friend that is quite fanatic about Kruger, but he took his family to spend the holidays with other family in Mosselbaai. Little did he know that there was a Sanparks resort just a few kilometers from there. And he could even fish there for that is his other passion. And he infused passion for birds in my and SO's life. We are now keen learners, starting with the big birds. He thought the nearest Sanparks resort was the Tsitsikamma that was more than 100 kilos from Mosselbay. Now he can kick his own behind...

Thank you for the kind comments. I was off to a shaky start trying to figure out how the picture additions worked with Flickr, but now I am sorted and ready to post.

Next up some white throated swallows came around and obliged with sitting still for a while. They really are beautifull.On the way to the hide there is alittler stream that runs under the road and flying along this we saw this Malachite Kingfisher with this fish in its beak. I think we were probably close to its nest as it would fly off as if to distract us, only to return with the fish still in its beak.We decided to go off to the Langvlei hide and on the way had some great fun with this Steppe Buzzard who would fly off 10 meters every time I picked up the camera or switched off the car. It eventually gave a few seconds and then flew off into the trees.On the last morning we visited the hide at the Fairy Knowe hotel. You have to collect the key to the hide from reception who are open from 06h00 in the morning. On the was to the hide this White Eye gave a quick freeze and in the hide we saw a first for me, an African Purple Swamphen. I could not get a clear shot as it is very elusive.

This is all I have to share at the moment. Will share some more on the West Coast National Park soon.

Good evening. I have three more pictures of my recent visit to the bird hides in the Wilderness National Park. First up this Great Crested Grebe fishing in front of the hide. Not ideal lighting conditions, but you get the idea.

Then another shot of this Pied Kingfisher coming in to land or was that taking off.